"It is an irony of human existence that when you find you're the piper at the gates of mortality, the world looks somewhat hopeful, illuminating the presence of kindness."
Image generated with the assistance of Microsoft Copilot
Cancer's
Unseen Grace
One
thing I’ve observed about the human family is that a fatal cancer diagnosis
alters the architecture of perception regarding how they treat you. Those who
are often indifferent or preoccupied reveal a hidden tenderness.
Tolerance
kicks in from those around. Some side effects of hormone therapy, which is
targeted at building a wall around cancer, include grumpiness, failing memory,
intrusive thoughts, and an insatiable appetite for laziness, triggered by the
body fighting with itself, and a "can’t be bothered" attitude.
But
the machinery of life—doctor's surgeries, hospitals, consultants, even passing
acquaintances—shifts into a mode of quiet grace, as if some unseen conductor
has signalled a change in the score. It is an irony of human existence that
when you find you're the piper at the gates of mortality, the world looks
somewhat hopeful, illuminating the presence of kindness.
Strangers
extend themselves in unexpected ways; friends, once casual, become unwavering;
professionals, who might otherwise be hurried, now pause, listen, and offer
more than duty requires. The same world, unchanged in its mechanics, pulses
with a gentler rhythm.
Of
course, not everyone is transformed. There are always those who move through
life as if unseeing, concerned only with their own trajectory. But is that new?
Their indifference and selfishness are constants against which kindness becomes
more visible. It is not that the world changes—it is that awareness sharpens,
revealing the threads of compassion that were always there, woven into the
fabric of existence.
A
terminal illness, then, does not merely bring fear or sorrow; it grants a rare
vantage point. From this place, one sees the world not as it should be, but as
it is—both flawed and profoundly beautiful, both self-absorbed and
astonishingly kind.
"What a person desires is unfailing love" Proverbs 19:22 (Niv).
Terminal Cancer's Unseen Grace
"It is an irony of human existence that when you find you're the piper at the gates of mortality, the world looks somewhat hopeful, illuminating the presence of kindness."
Image generated with the assistance of Microsoft Copilot
Cancer's Unseen Grace
One thing I’ve observed about the human family is that a fatal cancer diagnosis alters the architecture of perception regarding how they treat you. Those who are often indifferent or preoccupied reveal a hidden tenderness.
Tolerance kicks in from those around. Some side effects of hormone therapy, which is targeted at building a wall around cancer, include grumpiness, failing memory, intrusive thoughts, and an insatiable appetite for laziness, triggered by the body fighting with itself, and a "can’t be bothered" attitude.
But the machinery of life—doctor's surgeries, hospitals, consultants, even passing acquaintances—shifts into a mode of quiet grace, as if some unseen conductor has signalled a change in the score. It is an irony of human existence that when you find you're the piper at the gates of mortality, the world looks somewhat hopeful, illuminating the presence of kindness.
Strangers extend themselves in unexpected ways; friends, once casual, become unwavering; professionals, who might otherwise be hurried, now pause, listen, and offer more than duty requires. The same world, unchanged in its mechanics, pulses with a gentler rhythm.
Of course, not everyone is transformed. There are always those who move through life as if unseeing, concerned only with their own trajectory. But is that new? Their indifference and selfishness are constants against which kindness becomes more visible. It is not that the world changes—it is that awareness sharpens, revealing the threads of compassion that were always there, woven into the fabric of existence.
A terminal illness, then, does not merely bring fear or sorrow; it grants a rare vantage point. From this place, one sees the world not as it should be, but as it is—both flawed and profoundly beautiful, both self-absorbed and astonishingly kind.
"What a person desires is unfailing love" Proverbs 19:22 (Niv).